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EHAM QTH QRZ ARRL HRO ICOM KENWOOD YAESU ELBO ROOM THURSDAY EDITION: Raw start to the day here on the island...Global warming has slightly slowed Earth's rotation — and it could affect how we measure time...Elon Musk Says 'Almost Anyone' Can Afford A $100,000 Ticket To Mars By Working And Saving — But 57% Of People Can't Cover A $1,000 Emergency Open HT Surgery Gives Cheap Transceiver All-Band Capabilities
Watch out, Baofeng; there’s a new kid on the cheap handy talkie market, and judging by this hardware and firmware upgrade to the Quansheng UV-K5, the radio’s hackability is going to keep amateur radio operators busy for quite a while. Like the ubiquitous Baofeng line of cheap transceivers, the Quansheng UV-K5 is designed to be a dual-band portable for hams to use on the 2-meter VHF and 70-centimeter UHF bands. While certainly a useful capability, these bands are usually quite range-limited, and generally require fixed repeaters to cover a decent geographic area. For long-range comms you want to be on the high-frequency (HF) bands, and you want modulations other than the FM-only offered by most of the cheap HT radios. Luckily, there’s a fix for both problems, as [Paul (OM0ET)] outlines in the video below. It’s a two-step process that starts with installing a hardware kit to replace the radio’s stock receiver chip with the much more capable Si4732. The kit includes the chip mounted on a small PCB, a new RF choke, and a bunch of nearly invisible capacitors. The mods are straightforward but would certainly benefit from the help of a microscope, and perhaps a little hot air rework. Once the hardware is installed and the new firmware flashed, you have an HT that can receive signals down to the 20-meter band, with AM and SSB modulations, and a completely redesigned display with all kinds of goodies.
via Blog –
Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2024/03/22/open-ht-surgery-gives-cheap-transceiver-all-band-capabilities/
Next April’s total solar eclipse promises to be a scientific bonanzaFlorida. April’s total solar eclipse promises to be a scientific bonanza, thanks to new spacecraft and telescopes and cosmic possibilities. The Moon will be very close to the Earth, causing a long and intense period of darkness, and the Sun should be more active with the possibility of spectacular plasma explosions. Then there is the densely populated corridor of totality that stretches from Mexico to the United States and Canada. Hundreds, if
not thousands,
of the tens of
millions of
viewers will act
as They will photograph the Sun’s corona-shaped outer atmosphere, or corona, as the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, blocking out the Sun’s light for up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds on April 8. They will observe the stillness of the birds and other animals as the midday darkness falls. They will also measure falling temperatures, monitor clouds and use amateur radio to measure communications disruptions. At the same
time, rockets
will lift off
with scientific
instruments
toward the
electrically
charged portion
of the
atmosphere near
the edge of
space known as
the ionosphere.
The small
rockets will
lift off from
Wallops Island,
Virginia, about
400 miles from
totality but
with 81 percent
of the Sun
obscured in a
partial eclipse.
Similar launches
were made from
New Mexico
during the solar
eclipse of
NASA’s high-altitude jets will also fly again, chasing the Moon’s shadow with upgraded telescopes to study the solar corona and surrounding dust.
College students will launch more than 600 weather balloons along the runway, providing live feeds as they study atmospheric changes. Cloudy skies shouldn’t matter.
And if the Federal Aviation Administration approves, a 6.5-meter kite will lift a scientific instrument 5 kilometers above Texas in an experiment conducted by Shadia Habbal of the University of Hawaii. She also wants to overcome any clouds that might hinder her observations of the Sun. The crown, hotter Normally obscured by the Sun’s glare, the corona is revealed in its entirety during a total solar eclipse, making it a prime research target. The spiky tendrils emanating thousands of miles into space are disconcertingly hotter than the surface of the Sun, by millions of degrees, versus thousands.
The United States won’t see another total solar eclipse of this scale until 2045, so NASA and everyone else are doing everything they can. The April eclipse will begin in the Pacific and make landfall in Mazatlán, Mexico, and pass through Texas and 14 other US states before crossing into Canada and emerging into the Atlantic in Newfoundland. Those outside the 185-kilometer-wide path will get a partial eclipse. Scientists got a glimpse of what’s to come during the 2017 total solar eclipse that stretched from Oregon to South Carolina. This time, the Moon is closer to Earth, resulting in more minutes of darkness and a longer path.
Another scientific advantage this time: the Sun will be just one year away from its maximum solar activity, unlike 2017, when it was close to its minimum. That means a lot more action on the Sun, possibly even a coronal mass ejection during the eclipse, with huge amounts of plasma and magnetic field launched into space. Additionally, there are two new spacecraft studying the Sun: NASA and the European Space Agency’s Parker Solar Probe and NASA’s Solar Orbiter. They will join other eclipse spacecraft, including the International Space Station and its astronauts. Closer to home, the April eclipse, unlike previous ones, will pass by three US radar sites typically used to monitor space weather. The stations will tune in to what’s happening in the upper atmosphere as the skies darken. WEDNESDAY EDITION: eBay day this morning at the club, not sure what we will photo and box up today....
This year, International Marconi Day (IMD) is on April 27. Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi was born on April 25, 1874, and is credited for inventing the radiotelegraph system, creating Marconi’s law, and sending the first wireless transmission over the open sea. IMD was created to honor Marconi and is hosted annually by the Cornish Radio Amateur Club, GX4CRC. The purpose of the day is for amateur radio enthusiasts around the world to contact historic Marconi sites using communication techniques similar to those that he would have used. The 24-hour event will operate from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC, and registration is required. Participants can register at GX4CRC’s registration web page. Read more – via American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources http://www.arrl.org/news/view/international-marconi-day-2024 The Long Strange Trip to US Color TVWe are always fascinated when someone can take something and extend it in a clever way without changing the original thing. In the computer world, that’s old hat. New computers improve, but can usually run old software. In the real world, the addition of stereo to phonograph records and color to photography come to mind. But there are few stories as strange or wide-ranging as the path to provide color TV. And it had to be done in a way that a color set could still get a black and white picture and black and white sets could still watch a color signal without color. You’d think there would be a “big bang” moment where color TV burst on the scene — no pun involving color burst intended. But there wasn’t. Instead, there was a long, twisted path with many competing interests and ideas to go from a world in black and white to one tinted with color phosphor.
via Blog –
Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2024/03/21/the-long-strange-trip-to-us-color-tv/
TUESDAY EDITION: March is going out like a lion here, no snow but cold, damp, windy, and raw out...Shipped out the Icom 718 to Florida this morning for $635 plus shipping, eBay still amazes me..... Fulton County Amateur Radio Club ready to assist during April 8 total solar eclipseFAYETTE, Ohio — Made up of over 70 full-time members and 200 overall, the Fulton County Amateur Radio Club is being called upon to be an assistant for local emergency medical services across the county on the day of the total solar eclipse. Using amateur, or ham radios, to provide alternative radio frequencies, the group was founded in 1954 with the continuous goal of creating excitement about the hobby while also serving the communities of Fulton County. But on April 8, the group is being called upon to help out. "We've realized the large influx of people and the stress on communication and the resources within our own community," William McConnell, assistant police chief of the Fayette Police Department said. "So there's been many, many months of preparation that the EMA office has done." That stress has resulted in the Fulton County Emergency Management Agency making the radio club a part of their plans for the eclipse. In fact, the two, along with the Fayette Police Department, went through training together on Saturday. It's vital to club president Bryan Patterson that they are a part of the communication plans because with a heavy increase in expected population to the area, cell phone towers and other communication transmitters could be overwhelmed. "If the current radio system would, god forbid, happen to go down, we can provide adequate communication for things like deploying ambulances and emergency runs and stuff like this," Patterson said. Also for Patterson, this is a chance to remind Fulton County and all of northwest Ohio of just how important a simple radio can still be to daily life. "We've been trying to integrate ourselves better into the community for public service events and get the name of amateur radio out there, and remind everybody that we are still a relevant part of communications and protection for the community," Patterson said. The Hunt For Alien Radio Signals Began Sooner Than You Think
Every 26 months, Earth and Mars come tantalizingly close by virtue of their relative orbits. The closest they’ve been in recent memory was a mere 55.7 million kilometers, a proximity not seen in 60,000 years when it happened in 2003. However, we’ve been playing close attention to Mars for longer than that. All the way back in 1924, astronomers and scientists were contemplating another close fly by from the red planet. With radio then being the hot new technology on the block, the question was raised—should we be listening for transmissions from fellows over on Mars? Flashback to 1924, a time when the cosmos was less understood but no less marveled at. Earth and Mars were drawing near, and with that, an ambitious, albeit quaint by today’s standards, attempt to probe the Red Planet for signs of life was set into motion. It wasn’t with the sophisticated rovers or orbiters of the modern era. Instead, the plan was to keep out a listening ear for potential Martian radio broadcasts.
via Blog –
Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2024/03/20/the-hunt-for-alien-radio-signals-began-sooner-than-you-think/
Breadboard SDR Doesn’t Need Much
Grug Huhler] built a simple Tayloe mixer and detector on a breadboard. He decided to extend it a bit to be a full-blown software defined radio (SDR). He then used WSJT-X to monitor FT8 signals and found that he could pick up signals from all over the world with the little breadboard system. A Raspberry Pi Pico generates a quadrature clock that acts as the local oscillator for the radio. All the processing of the input signal to a quadrature signal is done with a 74LV4052A, which is nothing more than an analog multiplexer. In principle, the device takes a binary number from zero to three and uses it to connect a common signal to one of four channels. There are two common lines and two sets of four channels. In this case, only half of the chip is in use. An antenna network (two resistors and a capacitor) couples the antenna to one of the common pins, and the Pi generates two square waves, 90 degrees out of phase with each other. This produces select signals in binary of 00, 01, 11, and 10. An op amp and a handful of passive components couple the resulting signals to a PC soundcard, where the software processes the data. The Pi can create clocks up to about 15 or 20 MHz easily using the PIO. The antenna is a 20-meter-long wire outside, and that accounts for some of the radio’s success. There are several programs than can work with soundcard input like this and [Grug] shows Quisk as a general-purpose receiver. If you missed the first video explaining the Tayloe mixer design, you can catch it below the first video.
via Blog –
Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2024/03/19/breadboard-sdr-doesnt-need-much/
MONDAY EDITION: What's new? I have a NIB Icom 718 on eBay and it is up to $600, wtf! Also a few other items that will end up netting me over $900, so off to the crack store later in the week and pick up a Yaesu FT710 from the manager Dave at the Salem, NH HRO store....
I picked up two of these speakers, a lady gave them to me for helping her out with SK husbands ham gear. I finally plugged one in to my 7300 and compared with the Icom external speaker....no comparison, I put it back in the box and it will collect dust in the closet. I think they would be fine for an external speaker for a vhf/uhf radio in the truck but thats it...clear tone my ass! On a positive note, build quality good and only 20 bucks... FCC launches crackdown on signal jammers sold by Amazon, othersUh-oh, Amazon. Looks like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not playing around when it comes to selling illegal signal jammers. The agency just went public with an investigation into Amazon and other major retailers for allegedly pushing these dodgy devices that can block your cell signal, GPS, and more. Typically advertised as “drone deterrents” or “privacy tools”, these nefarious gadgets are specifically designed to block radio frequencies. This has serious ramifications, cutting off cellular devices and GPS units and impacting emergency communication channels. REad more – Interesting Engineering: https://bit.ly/3PAzZam A Portable Unrestricted Digital Radio
RNode is an open source, unrestricted digital radio transceiver based on — but not limited to — the Reticulum cryptographic networking stack. It is another interesting project in what we might call the “Federated application” space in that it is intended to be used with no central controlling body. It can be used in a LAN or WAN context with the Reticulum network when operating in network adaptor mode, but it also has other use cases. Essentially, RNode is a software project running on a LilyGO LoRa32 board wrapped up in a snazzy-looking 3D-printed case. Just make sure to grab a version of the board with an u.FL connector in place or somewhere to solder one. If it comes with an SMA connector, you will want to remove that. The device can be standalone, perhaps attached to a mobile device via Wi-Fi, but it needs to be hooked up to a laptop for the really interesting applications. When set to TNC mode, it can act as an APRS gateway, which allows you to access packet radio BBSs and all that fun stuff. Other supported applications are Sideband and the Nomad Network, both LXMF clients for messaging over secure peer-to-peer networks. Finally, the LilyGo board is a LoRa device that can act as a general-purpose LoRa sniffer, useful for finding communication dead spots. One fun idea is the “bootstrap console,” accessible via any Wi-Fi-enabled RNode and contains the basic information needed to construct other RNode devices. This is hosted on the device, so no internet access is required. But you need access to the spare parts, tools, and something with a screen to read it on. Still, it’s an interesting concept enabled by modern embedded devices having plenty of storage on tap.
via Blog –
Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2024/03/18/rnode-a-portable-unrestricted-digital-radio/
International Marconi Day 2024This year, International Marconi Day (IMD) is on April 27. Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi was born on April 25, 1874, and is credited for inventing the radiotelegraph system, creating Marconi's law, and sending the first wireless transmission over the open sea. IMD was created to honor Marconi and is hosted annually by the Cornish Radio Amateur Club, GX4CRC. The purpose of the day is for amateur radio enthusiasts around the world to contact historic Marconi sites using communication techniques similar to those that he would have used. The 24-hour event will operate from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC, and registration is required. Participants can register at GX4CRC's registration web page. Stations in the United States, including Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club, KM1CC, in Massachusetts, are already registering for the event. KM1CC hosts several on-air events each year to keep the accomplishments and story of Marconi and his wireless station site in South Wellfleet alive. In 1975, the Wellfleet station was listed as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places and is now part of Cape Cod National Seashore, a unit of the National Park Service. When possible, KM1CC sets up a temporary radio station inside the park. More information about KM1CC is available on their Facebook page. FRIDAY EDITION: 24 and frigid here on Cape Ann...I will update later, going out for business
NEARFEST IS COMING UP SOON...April 25-26 Creating a Numbers Station Of Your Very OwnNumbers stations are a weird phenomenon where odd voices read out long strings of numbers or random codewords to the confusion of the vast majority of the listening audience. If you’ve ever wanted to build one of your own, you could follow the example of [AudioWanderer]. NumberMumble, as it’s called, is a numbers station emulator. It doesn’t signal spy networks or reveal national secrets. Instead, it randomly plays audio samples using an Arduino, including characteristic bursts of white noise that make it sound more authentic. It relies on the Mozzi library to help with audio tasks, including generating white noise and playing back samples. It’s also kitted out with a filter knob for varying the tone. Audio output is via PWM. If you want to confuse your neighbours with oddball audio, put this thing on a radio transmitter and get broadcasting. But don’t, because that’s illegal without the proper licenses or — you know — if you happen to be a real spy.
via Blog –
Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2024/03/17/creating-a-numbers-station-of-your-very-own/
Amateur Radio
Newsline THURSDAY EDITION: Wicked cold out at 6am and small droplets of hail on the lawn, you have to love New England.... March 19, 2024 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been selected by DARPA to further develop the concept of building a moon-based railroad network ... NEW TECH: Designed to surpass the current Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) standard by leveraging modern, super-cheap Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) transceivers rather than standard FM units. The project is in the early stages, but as of this writing, there is a full open source software stack and reference hardware for both Raspberry Pi-based gateway devices and an STM32-based mobile device.From a radio perspective, CATS uses raw FSK rather than the inefficient AFSK used by APRS. A real killer for channel utilization is the PTT time; this is the dead time around a packet APRS requires for ‘keying up’ and ‘keying down.’ The CATS standard is aggressive with PTT timing, enabling the channel to get going on sending the data sooner. Additionally, compared to APRS, the packet baud rate increases from 1200 baud to 9600 baud. Other key points are using LDPC encoding for forward error correction and data whitening (a useful PDF guide from Ti) to smooth over any burst errors. One of the neat concepts of APRS is the APRS-IS (APRS Internet service). This enables amateur radio services to be connected over the Internet, vastly improving range. The CATS equivalent is called FELINET (if you’re not spotting all the ‘cat’ references by now, go and get another coffee). Together with the I-gate hardware, FELINET bridges the CATS radio side with the current APRS network. As FELINET expands to more than the current few dozen nodes, APRS services will no longer be required, and FELINET may well replace it. Interestingly, all software for FELINET, the APRS relay, and the I-Gate firmware are written in Rust. We told you learning Rust was going to be worth the effort! On the reference hardware side of things, the CATS project has delivered a Raspberry Pi hat, which uses a 1 watt RF4463 transceiver and supporting passives. The design is about as simple as it can be. A mobile transceiver version uses an STM32 micro to drive the same RF4463 but with supporting power supplies intended to run from a typical automotive outlet. Both designs are complete KiCAD projects. Finally, once you’ve got some hardware in place and the software installed, you will want to be able to debug it. CATS has you covered with an RTL-SDR I-Gate module, giving you an independent packet log. APRS is quite mature, and we’ve seen many hacks on these pages. Here’s an earlier APRS IGate build using a Raspberry Pi. Need to hook up your PC to a cheap Chinese transceiver? You need the all-in-one cable. As with many things amateur-radio-oriented, you can get https://hackaday.com/2024/03/15/cats-a-new-communication-and-telemetry-system/
We picked up a shortwave receiver known as the “stressless” receiver kit. We aren’t sure if the stress is from building a more complicated kit or operating a more complicated receiver. Either way, it is an attractive kit that looks easy to build. Presumably to reduce stress, the VFO and receiver boards are already built, so assembly is just a few hours connecting large components and boards. As kits go, this is a fairly simple one. We were surprised to read that the supplier says you can’t upgrade the firmware. We, of course, wonder if that’s true. For technical specs, the receiver is AM only and can operate from 100 kHz to 30 MHz. It uses a double conversion with intermediate frequencies of 21.4 MHz and 455 kHz. There’s a BNC connector on the back, and the radio requires 11 to 15V on the input. Apparently, the frequency generator inside is an SI5351. The sensitivity and selectivity numbers look very good for an AM radio. We were surprised to see the radio didn’t have provisions for SSB since AM-only makes it not as useful for hams or others interested in non-broadcast transmissions. If we are doing our conversions correctly, the kit is fairly pricey, too, especially considering that it is AM only. EBAY WEDNESDAY EDITION: I believe we will be boxing up the Yaesu 920 and Icom 735 today for sale for the club repeater fund.....next week may be the Yaesu VL-1000/VP-1000 QUADRA SYSTEM amplifier, complete with original boxes, stay tuned....This looks like an interesting radio, FT8,SSB, CW right out of the box, no computer needed, priced reasonable, high reviews, $399...
Description: WTF: An at-home DNA testing kit for dogs claimed that human saliva returned various dog breed results — and when pressed, the firm held firm. STORY As Boston's WBZ-TV reports, the Toronto-based DNA My Dog company told not one but two humans who sent cheek swabs in that their results contained dog DNA, calling into question the accuracy of its tests. The dog DNA debacle began last fall, when the local broadcaster reported that a New Hampshire woman decided to do an informal experiment, sending in a sample from her own cheek saliva without telling the company just to see what would happen. The company claims it sequenced her genome and found that she was 28 percent bulldog, 40 percent border collie, and 32 percent cane corso.
TUESDAY EDITION: I listed the IC718 on eBay and within 6 hours it was $335, although you pay a commission you get a lot more than at a bottom feeder hamfest or Craigslist....Off to the doctor this morning for a little skin surgery to remove a tick bite and back in time to pickup the dog from the groomer, its tick season early so I keep the springer short haired so I can find the little bastards.... Elon Musk Predicts A 'Universal High Income' As Jobs Are Phased Out And Employment Becomes Obsolete — It'll Be 'Somewhat Of An Equalizer'Elon Musk made some striking predictions about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs and income at the inaugural AI Safety Summit in the U.K. in November. The serial entrepreneur and CEO painted a utopian vision where AI renders traditional employment obsolete but provides an “age of abundance” through a system of “universal high income.” “It’s hard to say exactly what that moment is, but there will come a point where no job is needed,” Musk told U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “You can have a job if you want to have a job or sort of personal satisfaction, but the AI will be able to do everything.” While admitting this prospect may not make “people comfortable,” Musk seemed optimistic about what he termed a “protopian” AI-driven future. “I think everyone will have access to this magic genie, and you’re able to ask any question. It’ll be certainly bigger for education. It’ll be the best tutor,” he said. “And there will be no shortage of goods and services. It will be an age of abundance.” Musk’s concept of “universal high income” appears to be an evolution of the universal basic income (UBI) idea supported by other tech leaders like Sam Altman. “We won’t have universal basic income. We’ll have universal high income,” Musk said, though he did not explicitly define the difference. “In some sense, it’ll be somewhat of a leveler, an equalizer.” It's worth noting this isn't the first time Musk addressed the topic. In 2018, he posted on X: "Universal income will be necessary over time if AI takes over most human jobs." STORY MONDAY EDITION: Gloomy start to the day, I have to box and eBay an Icom 718 this morning at the club. I am picking up a Yaesu 710 this weekend from a local ham, only a few months old. I thought a radio with a direct plug in monitor would be fun to try.... World Amateur Radio Day April 18, 2024World Amateur Radio Day is the day when IARU Member Societies can show our capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship with other Amateurs worldwide. For 2024, the IARU is very pleased to adopt the theme of: “A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community, and Advocacy”. IARU celebrates its centenary in 2025. Since its founding in Paris, France, IARU has worked tirelessly to promote innovation in amateur radio and to encourage the growth of the service in communities throughout the world. IARU has represented the Amateur Services at international and regional regulatory bodies by relying on our volunteers who come from many countries and communities. IARU has been a sector member of the ITU since 1932 and the work of our volunteers has continued since that date with unmatched success; as was highlighted with the accomplishments at WRC-23. Leading up to our centenary year, we should take time to reflect on the remarkable achievements of radio amateurs over the last 100 years. While the Amateur Services have been in operation for over a century, 1924 was the first year that intercontinental amateur communication became more or less commonplace. Since that time radio amateurs have made unparalleled advances in technology related to the Amateur Services that play a critical role today in sustaining world-wide communications and allow us to respond to global emergencies. World Amateur Radio Day is an opportunity to reflect on our achievements since 1924. We should celebrate our diverse community and the advances and innovations we have made as we look forward to celebrating the IARU centenary next year. WEEKEND EDITION: Boiled dinner on the stove, one of my favorite meals...when I was young I used to go in and celebrate with my Southie Irish cousins, those were the memorable hangover days. I think I had fun.... Joe and his lovely wife Linda drive down from NH and picked up a Kenwood amplifier we had for sale and stayed long enough to have a nice lunch at a local restaurant on the harbor. Nice to finally meet Linda!... 2024 ARRL Field Day Theme: Be Radio ActiveThe theme for 2024 ARRL Field Day is "Be Radio Active." The event will run on June 22 - 23, and it will be one-part contest, one-part emergency communications exercise, and one-part open house -- and a great time. The theme encourages radio amateurs to take advantage of the peak of Solar Cycle 25, which we are nearing. Activity this year is likely to be extremely high thanks to favorable solar conditions. The upper HF bands, such as 15 and 10 meters, should benefit most from the Cycle's peak. There are resources available already for clubs and individuals to make their Field Day plans. ARRL will publish more information and tools so that hams can make the most of the event as it draws near. Amateurs interested in learning more are invited to join the Field Day Facebook group to connect with others who are planning for the big weekend. Find links to all of the resources on the ARRL Field Day web page at www.arrl.org/field-day.
Propagation de
K7RA
Amateur Radio
Newsline Report
THURSDAY EDITION: Another day in paradise, lots of errands to split up the day. ...it would be a good day to run the coax thru the firewall in the truck that I haave been putting off for a month and get the radio installed....Kriss sends down a video on ideas you can use with your extra electrical tape.... Solar Eclipse One Month AwayA total solar eclipse that will be seen across North America will occur on Monday, April 8th. It will be the last of its kind in the US for the next 20 years. Hams across North America are asked to participate in a study about how the ionosphere functions by getting on the air to help scientists in a series of ionospheric experiments. Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) has presentations for hams interested in participating on Wednesday, March 27 at 8;00 PM (Eastern) - 5:00 PM (Pacific)*, and that same day at 10:00 PM (Eastern) - 7:00 PM (Pacific)*. Both 30-minute presentations will held on Zoom and they will feature HamSCI's Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science (FoEIS). The presenters will take your questions during the presentations. Here is the link to the presentations. The program will start by covering HamSCI's basis and purpose, and quickly move into why they are conducting experiments, how hams and shortwave listeners (SWLS) can participate, and what they hope to learn from the event. Along the way, they will discuss why the science behind the event is important to users of the high-frequency radio spectrum - including amateur radio operators! Learn about the HamSCI's eclipse-focused operating events:
Maritime Mobile Planned During the solar eclipse, John Landrigan, KA4RXP, will be operating in the SEQP as a maritime mobile off the coast of Mazatlán, Mexico, at the beginning of the total solar eclipse as it transits the Maritime provinces of Canada. Look for KA4RXP/MM around 14.265 MHz. WEDNESDAY EDITION: Good morning hamsters, a sunny and cold day here on the rock...Spending the morning at the cell tower repeater site reinstalling the just tuned 2 meter duplexers and new jumper cables in anticipation of the tower climbing and new antenna...More good news, Plastic Found Inside More Than 50% of Plaques From Clogged Arteries.... All-
The Southeastern
CT Amateur Radio
Society will be
holding its
annual Spring
Auction
Fundraiser on
Saturday April
13, 2024 at the
Our Lady of
Lourdes Parish
Hall in Gales
Ferry, CT.
Proceeds from
this auction are
used to sustain
our amateur
radio club and
support our
amateur radio
community with
repeaters,
educational
programs and
activities.
This is a great
opportunity for
members of your
organization to
buy or sell
amateur radio
gear and related
items and to
meet new hams.
All are welcome
to attend.
Please could you
circulate this
notice within
your
organization. I
would be happy
to circulate
general interest
announcements
you have to
SECARS members
in the future.
Please visit our
website https://secars.org for
more
information.
Let me know if
you have any
questions.
Apologies if you
are receiving
this e-mail
twice - if so,
please
disregard. I
just received an
updated mailing
list from ARRL
HQ.
Mark Noe
President,
Southeastern CT
Amateur Radio
Society
(SECARS)
The annual SECARS Spring Auction will be held Saturday, April 13, 2024 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church Hall. Location: 1650 CT Route 12, Gales Ferry, CT. Plenty of onsite parking in the rear of the facility, which is also the entrance to the auction. Time: Setup – 7 AM; Sellers arrive beginning at 8 AM; All others at 9 AM; Auction starts at 10 AM and runs until the last item is sold. Food: Coffee, tea, water and donuts will be available for purchase, along with hot dogs and soft drinks. Raffle: SECARS will be offering several prizes with raffle tickets available for purchase. Details will be updated here shortly. You must be present to win any raffle prizes. Talk-in: Talk in is on the SECARS repeater: 146.730 MHz (- offset, PL 156.7 Hz). Admission: $5 admission fee per participant. What’s for sale? Sellers are welcome to bring computer and electronic equipment related to amateur radio, including any type of radio rig, amplifier, antenna, transmission line, station accessories, publications, electronic components, etc. All items are available for viewing from 9 AM onward. Auction terms: This is a live auction. Items will be auctioned in the order chosen by the auctioneer and staff. You must be present to bid, and all purchased items must be removed before the end of the auction. Payment is expected the day of the auction by cash, personal check (with ID) or major credit card (with additional 3% fee). SECARS takes a 10% commission on the sale of any item (minimum commission of $1.00), which is paid by the seller. Sellers need not be present at the end of the auction to collect payment, although that is highly preferred. Sellers must remove all of their unsold items by the end of the auction unless other arrangements have been made in advance. Sellers have the right to set a minimum sale price for any item placed for sale. Sellers also have the right to place one “free” bid to raise the price of their item during the auction. All sales are final. TUESDAY EDITION: Powerful solar flare eruption from 'sneaky' sunspot triggers widespread radio blackouts (video)Thanks to the event, minor geomagnetic storm conditions may occur on March 13. The relatively small, unassuming sunspot AR3599 has been crackling with minor solar flares in recent days — but it surprised everyone by unleashing a strong M7.4 class solar flare on Sunday (March 10) at 8:13 EDT (1213 GMT). The flare was also accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a large release of plasma and magnetic field from the sun. The CME is barreling through space at around 1.7 million mph (750 km/s), according to spaceweather.com, but to the disappointment of aurora chasers, it's predicted to pass ahead of our planet. However, we can keep our fingers crossed for a possible glancing blow, as suggested by a NASA model, that could trigger minor G1-class geomagnetic storms on March 13. Just eight minutes after the solar flare erupted, an extensive radio blackout was experienced across Africa and the South Atlantic. According to spaceweather.com, ham radio operators may have experienced signal loss for up to 30 minutes after the flare. Blackouts like this are common after powerful solar flare eruptions occur, as these events release a strong pulse of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation which travel towards Earth at the speed of light. When the radiation hits Earth's atmosphere, it ionizes the upper layer known as the thermosphere — causing shortwave radio blackouts on the portion of Earth that was facing the sun at the time of eruption. Solar Eclipse One Month AwayA total solar eclipse that will be seen across North America will occur on Monday, April 8th. It will be the last of its kind in the US for the next 20 years. Hams across North America are asked to participate in a study about how the ionosphere functions by getting on the air to help scientists in a series of ionospheric experiments. Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) has presentations for hams interested in participating on Wednesday, March 27 at 8;00 PM (Eastern) - 5:00 PM (Pacific)*, and that same day at 10:00 PM (Eastern) - 7:00 PM (Pacific)*. Both 30-minute presentations will held on Zoom and they will feature HamSCI's Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science (FoEIS). The presenters will take your questions during the presentations. Here is the link to the presentations. The program will start by covering HamSCI's basis and purpose, and quickly move into why they are conducting experiments, how hams and shortwave listeners (SWLS) can participate, and what they hope to learn from the event. Along the way, they will discuss why the science behind the event is important to users of the high-frequency radio spectrum - including amateur radio operators! Learn about the HamSCI's eclipse-focused operating events:
Maritime Mobile Planned During the solar eclipse, John Landrigan, KA4RXP, will be operating in the SEQP as a maritime mobile off the coast of Mazatlán, Mexico, at the beginning of the total solar eclipse as it transits the Maritime provinces of Canada. Look for KA4RXP/MM around 14.265 MHz. ACTIVE HAMS K1TP-
Jon....Editor of As The World
Turns....
SILENT KEYS Silet Key
KA1BXB-Don...Regular
on 3900 mornings....just
don't
mention
politics
to
him,
please!
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